THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNFIT. 



183 



A glance at some statistics, published in the United States 

 census reports will "be interesting in this connection. The fol 

 lowing figures are taken from a table showing the number of 

 insane, idiotic, blind, and deaf-mutes in the United States, in the 

 years named, respectively, according to the census : 



According to these figures, the population a little more than 

 doubled in thirty years, while the number of defective persons 

 returned was nearly five times as great as it had been thirty 

 years before. During the decade from 1870-'S0 the increase in 

 population was 30 per cent ; during the same interval of time the 

 apparent increase in the defective classes was a little more than 

 155 per cent. There is much talk about the increase of insanity 

 in our day, and statistics appear to bear witness to the truth of 

 such reports. The following shows the ratio of insane popu- 

 lation to the entire population for the whole country in different 

 years : * 



1860 1 to 1,310. 



1870 1 to 1,100. 



1880 1 to 570. 



The latest report of the Census Bureau states that the total 

 number of insane persons treated in both public and private insti- 

 tutions during the year 1889 was 97,535, while during the year 

 1881 there were 56,205 treated; showing an increase in the nine 

 years of 41,330, or 73"53 per cent. This percentage of increase, 

 when compared with the percentage of increase of population in 

 the last decade, namely, 24'86, does not necessarily indicate an 

 increase in the proportion of insane persons to population, but 

 rather a great increase in the amount of asylum accommodation 

 provided, and a willingness on the part of the public to make full 

 use of all the facilities thus offered. The bulletin states that 

 the figures for the actual number of insane in the United States 

 can not be determined until the work of eliminating all duplicate 

 reports of cases has been completed. 



The ratio of insane in public and private institutions of the 

 United States is to the entire population as 1"56 to 1,000. f As 

 these figures represent only institutions to which large numbers 

 of the mildly insane are never sent, they point to an increase in 

 insanity. Objections may be made to figures tending to show a 



* Dr. C. L. Dana, in Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, April, 1882. 

 Census Bulletin, No. 62, May 9, 1891. 



